This species is widespread in the Indo-Pacific Ocean, and is found from East Africa and the Red Sea and to the Line, Marquesan and Easter Island including Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands, Samoa Islands and Phoenix Islands, north to the south Japan (Shinohara et al. 2000, Westneat 2001), and south to Australia and Lord Howe Island (Myers 1991).

In Lord Howe Island, density of A. caeruleopunctatus at depths of 14-20 m and three to six m was 7.3 individuals per 500 m2 and one individual per 500 m2, respectively. Biomass of A. caeruleopunctatus in Fiji Islands was found to be accounting for approximately 1.9 % of the total biomass of reef fishes and the occurrence frequency of A. caeruleopunctatus in the ten census sites was 52.9 % (Jennings and Polunin 1997).

In Fiji, a total of 12 individuals were counted in various UVC surveys with body sizes of 7-20 cm TL (M. Kulbicki pers. comm. 2008).

In New Caledonia, a total of 86 individuals were counted in various UVC surveys with body sizes of 6-27 cm TL (M. Kulbicki pers. comm. 2008).

In French-Polynesia, a total of seven individuals were counted in various UVC surveys with body sizes of 10-21 cm TL (M. Kulbicki pers. Comm, 2008).

In Tonga, a total of 36 individuals were counted in various UVC surveys with body sizes of 6-30 cm TL (M. Kulbicki pers. comm. 2008).

This species occurs in shallow protected reefs, lagoons (Westneat 2000, Kuiter 2002) to depths of 30 m. It is also found on the surge zones of coral reefs, rocky coasts (Lieske and Myers 1994, Allen 2000, Thi and Quan 2006) and has been collected at depth of 20 m (Westneat 2001).

It is found to occur in groups (Westneat 2001, Kuiter 2002) or pairs (Lieske and Myers 1994). Juvenile and adults have been observed in rocky reef flat (Nanami and Nishihira 2002). Juveniles have been reported to feed primarily on small benthic crustaceans and polychaetes, while adults taking larger crustaceans, molluscs and polychaetes (Myers 1991, Sadovy and Cornish 2000, Westneat 2001). Juveniles swim with their head pointing toward the bottom and undulate their body (Kuiter and Tonozuka 2001, Kuiter 2002). It is diurnally active (Durville et al. 2003) and buries itself at night (Lieske and Myers 1994).

A single pair of incisiform forward-projecting teeth at front of each jaw, there is no teeth at corner of mouth or on roof of mouth. The lateral line of, A. caeruleopunctatus , continuous and deflected downward below base of ninth dorsal-fin ray to a horizontal section on caudal peduncle with 27 lateral line scales (Westneat 2001). Initial phase of A. caeruleopunctatus is reddish brown and dorsal, caudal and ventrally with a dark-edged light blue spot on each scale, dorsal fin. Terminal males are olive with a dark-edged blue streak on each scale of body and irregular, narrow, dark-edged, blue bands are present on the heads (Allen 2000, Westneat 2001).

In Hong Kong, females of A. caeruleopunctatus are shy and hide in crevices while males left the area (Sadovy and Cornish 2000).

In Micronesia, the standard lengths of females ranged from 14.7 to 23.8 cm, whilst males ranged from 16.3 to 26 cm (Myers 1991).

This species is sexually dimorphic, spawning in harem with the male patrolling territory (Colin and Bell 1991). When patrolling a territory, the male occasionally raised his caudal fin momentarily and circled females when the male passed. Spawning activities was observed after high tide involving species ascent rapidly about two to four m to spawn. Females were reported to lead the spawning and during courtship, the blue band between the eyes and mouth and the single green bar on the body of the male became brighter. Spawning activities were found from March to May. Egg shape is nearly spherical.

This species is captured for the marine aquarium trade in Reunion Island (Mulochau and Durville 2005), Queensland, Australia (Whitehead et al. 1986), Mozambique (Whittington et al. 2000) and the Red Sea (PERSGA 2004). Exported and marketed price for this species has not been documented. Further, according to Shao (2008), A. caeruleopunctatus is categorized as both food fish and marine ornamental fish species.

It was found in the Hong Kong local fish market (Situ and Sadovy 2004) and is occasionally trawled (Sommer et al. 1996), but Westneat (2001) noted that A. caeruleopunctatus is not commonly seen in the fish market, globally.

There are no species-specific conservation measures for this species. However, this species distribution includes a number of Marine Protected Areas within its range.

Anampses caeruleopunctatus is present in the Bateman Bay, Ningaloo Reef Marine Park, Australia (Fitzpatrick and Penrose 2002), Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Nature Reserve, Australia (Oxley et al. 2003), Booderee National Park, Australia (Australian Government 2006), Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa (Green et al. 2005) and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (Kuiter 2006). Currently, creation of a fishing-free sanctuary zone in the Booderee National Park is under-reviewed (Australian Government 2006) and the proposal of establishing a 400,000 square mile Coral Sea Heritage Park, where fishing would be banned, in the Great Barrier Reef is under revising (Underwater Times 2008). Furthermore, in Micronesia, SCUBA fishing has been banned and Non-Governmental Organizations and Government are developing more MPAs (Kelty and Kuartei 2004). It is worth mentioning that marine parks or national parks do not necessary equal to no-fishing zones. For example, limited fishing is allowed for the licensed fishers in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Parks.

A. caeruleopunctatus is also found in the Watamu Marine National Park, Kenya where fishing has been prohibited for more than 20 years (McClanahan et al. 2002) and the Cape d’ Augilar Marine Reserve, Hong Kong where recreational and commercial fishing are restricted (Cornish 2000).

While many marine protected areas (MPAs) have been introduced within the geographic distribution range of A. caeruleopunctatus, such as Kiribati possesses the world’s largest marine protected area that comprising about 410,500 km2 including the Phoenix islands archipelago and both Winslow and Carondelet reefs (PIPA 2008), In Philippines, there is a rapidly increase in the number of MPAs (Alino et al. 2000). Thus, it is believed that A. caeruleopunctatus might be present in one of those MPAs, but yet to be documented.

However, marine protected areas, especially in the south and southeast Asia, countries, are considered to be poorly managed due to the lack of expertise, resource, effective co-ordination and proper enforcement (Chou et al. 2002, Tun et al. 2004). For instance, destructive fishing practises, unconfirmed dynamite fishing and anchor damage have been found in the Bar Reef Marine Sanctuary, Sri Lanka (Ohman et al. 1997). Thus, majority of these MPAs might not be able to provide sufficient protection to the species that they are housing.

Colin, P.L. and Bell, L.J. 1991. Aspects of the spawning of labrid and scarid fishes (Pisces: Labroidei) at Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands with notes on other families. Environmental Biology of Fishes 31(3): 229-260.

Dalzell, P., Lindsay, S.R. and Patiale, H. 1993. Fisheries resources survey of the Island of Niue - a report prepared in conjunction with the South Pacific Commission Inshore Fisheries Research Project and the FAO Regional Aquaculture Development Project for the Government of Niue, July 1990. Inshore Fisheries Research Project No. 3. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia.

Durville, P., Chabanet, P. and Quod, J. 2003. Visual census of the reef fishes in the natural reserve of the Glorieuses Islands (Western Indian Ocean). Western Indian Ocean Journal of Marine Science 2(2): 95-104.

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Oxley, W., Ayling, A., Cheal, A. and Osborne, K. 2004. Marine surveys undertaken in the Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Nature Reserve, December 2003. Produced for Department of the Environment and Heritage. An Australian Government Initiative, Townsville, Australia.

Parenti, P. and Randall, J.E. 2000. An annotated checklist of the species of the labroid fish families Labridae and Scaridae. Ichthyological Bulletin J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology 68: 97.

USCRTF Trade Subgroup of the International Working Group. 1999. International Trade in Coral and Coral Reef Species. International Working Group Draft Report. United States Coral Reef Task Force (USCRTF).